VATICAN CITY (CNS): An opinion piece in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on November 18, suggested that William Shakespeare was a Catholic who was forced to conceal his faith in 16th century Protestant England, while leaving hints about it throughout his vast body of work.

Taking a cue from renewed speculation about Shakespeare’s true identity sparked by the film, Anonymous, the article noted, “While there is legitimate debate about who was truly behind the Shakespeare name, “there is little doubt about another question regarding the life of Shakespeare: his convinced adherence to the Catholic faith.”

The op-ed piece noted that this view was at least partly shared by the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams, of Canterbury, who said in a debate at a literary festival last May that Shakespeare “probably had a Catholic background and had Catholic friends.”......